Rehabilitation Services

Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program

A patient may be on the road to recovering his or her health, but a physician believes there are a few more steps the patient needs to take before he or she can be moved, or discharged, to a lower level of care — such as an assisted living facility, home with the help of a home health provider or a home where he or she will receive care from a loved one.

The Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program (or swing bed program) offered at Higgins General Hospital and Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama is designed for that type of need, preparing patients for life after the hospital.

An Expanded Option for Care

The unique Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program is designed for patients who require a less-intensive level of care than they have received while in the hospital but who are still not ready to leave treatment.

The program enables physicians to provide access for up to two weeks of additional care. Services available while part of the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program include:

Skilled nursing care

Physical therapy

Occupational therapy

Speech therapy

Respiratory therapy

Education about living with a condition or recovery

Time to understand a new treatment that will be needed outside the hospital

The program can ensure that a patient is healthy enough and prepared for the lower level of care he or she will experience after being discharged from the hospital, which also helps reduce the need for future hospitalization.

About the Program

A patient can be discharged from the hospital and admitted to the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program at Higgins General Hospital or Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama to focus on recovering from illness.

The patient will receive weekly visits from a physician and constant supervision from a team of highly skilled nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Routine general testing will not be performed unless there is a change in the patient’s condition. The patient will be accommodated in a spacious, private hospital room, will receive meals from the hospital, will work with qualified rehabilitation staff and will receive nursing care and all other services available to every other Higgins General Hospital or Tanner Medical Center/East Alabama patient.

Does Insurance Cover Comprehensive Rehabilitation Care?

The Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program — sometimes referred to as a “swing bed” — is a covered benefit under Medicare and almost all commercial insurance. Tanner Health System’s Resource and Case Management Department can verify coverage for the program.

The program is not, however, covered by the Medicaid programs administered by Georgia and Alabama.

Is the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program the Right Choice?

If a patient no longer requires intensive inpatient treatment and is ready to step down to a less rigorous level of care, a physician may consider writing orders to discharge the patient from the hospital and admit the patient into the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program.

The physician’s order will be reviewed by Tanner Health System’s Resource and Case Management Department, which can help to evaluate and identify additional resources or other options for care that may be available to the patient.

If the physician and Tanner find that admission to the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program will be the most beneficial to the patient, then he or she will be admitted to the program.

This is not a long-term solution for a patient’s healthcare needs. Before being admitted to the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program, a discharge plan must be in place to ensure that a patient will continue to have access to the resources he or she will need once healthy enough to leave the program.

For Tanner Employees

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